In mid-November, colleagues from across PICS were invited to nominate charities to receive a share of a new fund, raised by staff who completed the annual staff survey. Three locally-run charities have been put forward and each are getting a cheque from PICS with our donation.
PICS really cares about the experience of staff working here. A really important way of hearing from staff and learning from their feedback is to ask them to complete a staff engagement survey every year. To encourage participation this year, £1 was added to a pot for every completed survey. As a result of this incentive, and with the support of line managers, the number of completed responses increased by over 35 percentage points to over 80 per cent.
Alison Rounce, Managing Director congratulated the staff who too part: “Empowering and supporting staff is a crucial part of how we intend to sustain our success and enable further growth. This high response rate gives us a robust set of data that will help us review the impact of our staff initiatives, inform our strategic and operational plans, and design further measures of support. The charities nominated by Eleanor, Amanda and Emma are worthy causes and I’m proud of the support PICS can provide them.”
- BlindEye, a charity supporting the homeless in Nottingham was nominated by Eleanor Greener, HR Assistant.
- Beaumond House Community Hospice provides end of life care and support in Newark and was nominated by Amanda De La Motte, Care Homes Lead.
- Tomorrow project charity, a crisis suicide prevention charity was nominated by Emma Alder, Quality and Governance Lead.
BlindEye, a charity supporting the homeless in Nottingham: nominated by Eleanor Greener, HR Assistant. BlindEye Soup run
“Pre-lockdown the volunteers of BlindEye walked the streets of Nottingham every Sunday morning giving out hot drinks, porridge, chocolate bars, sanitary products, socks, sleeping bags, winter clothing, etc. However when COVID struck, the majority of the homeless population were put into hotels to keep them safe from the virus. This is when I became involved. I cooked hot meals and made lunches for up to 40 homeless people 1-2 times per week for 22 weeks (a lot of food to cook in a typical household kitchen!). This food was purely based on donations from organisations like FareShare. Since restrictions have relaxed, volunteers are back out on early Sunday mornings.
“BlindEye solely rely on donations to continue supporting those in need, normally this money is gained through small live music gigs at independent bars/pubs – but obviously this hasn’t happened since February! Times are getting tougher for the homeless now the temperature is plummeting and they are needing more clothing/etc to keep warm and alive throughout the colder months. Donations from staff survey completions will buy porridge pots, tea/coffee/hot chocolate, snacks, blankets, socks, hats, gloves, (the list goes on).”
Beaumond House Community Hospice, provides end of life care and support in Newark: nominated by Amanda De La Motte, Care Homes Lead, who is a Trustee. beaumondhouse.co.uk
“I am incredibly proud to have been a trustee for several years of this amazing charity which provides end of life care and support to the population of Newark and the surrounding area. Their ethos of dedication, compassion and truly outstanding care constantly leaves me in awe but also very sad and frustrated that so much time has to be spent fund raising. This of course has been desperately badly hit by the awful impact of COVID19 and any donation would be gratefully received and put to fantastic use for the good of the people the hospice serves.”
Tomorrow project charity, a crisis suicide prevention charity based in Nottingham: nominated by Emma Alder, Quality and Governance Lead. Home – Tomorrow Project
“The Tomorrow Project provides crisis services to people at risk of suicide and support to families and communities who are bereaved by suicide. It’s a confidential project that includes a prevention partnerships and community engagement, intervention support, information and signposting; and postvention clinical therapy service for those with suicidal thoughts or those bereaved by suicide. They support people in a way that saves lives, and they help people when they are full of despair and help them to find the hope and help they need in order to save their lives.”